They get information from businesses or other institutions by: • They may steal your mail, including bank and credit card statements, credit card offers, new checks, and tax information. • They may rummage through your trash, the trash of businesses, or public trash dumps in a practice known as "dumpster diving." • They may get your credit reports by abusing their employer's authorized access to them, or by posing as a landlord, employer, or someone else who may have a legal right to access your report. • They may steal your credit or debit card numbers by capturing the information in a data storage device in a practice known as "skimming." They may swipe your card for an actual purchase, or attach the device to an ATM machine where you may enter or swipe your card. • They may steal your wallet or purse. • They may complete a "change of address form" to divert your mail to another location. • They may steal personal information they find in your home. • They may steal personal information from you through email or phone by posing as legitimate companies and claiming that you have a problem with your account. This practice is known as "phishing" online, or pretexting by phone. • They may call your credit card issuer to change the billing address on your credit card account. The imposter then runs up charges on your account. Because your bills are being sent to a different address, it may be some time before you realize there's a problem. • They may open new credit card accounts in your name. When they use the credit cards and don't pay the bills, the delinquent accounts are reported on your credit report. • They may establish phone or wireless service in your name. • They may open a bank account in your name and write bad checks on that account. • They may counterfeit checks or credit or debit cards, or authorize electronic transfers in your name, and drain your bank account. • They may file for bankruptcy under your name to avoid paying debts they've incurred under your name, or to avoid eviction. • They may buy a car by taking out an auto loan in your name. • They may get identification such as a driver's license issued with their picture, in your name. • They may get a job or file fraudulent tax returns in your name. • They may give your name to the police during an arrest. If they don't show up for their court date, a warrant for arrest is issued in your name. Stay alert for other signs of identity theft, like: • failing to receive bills or other mail. Follow up with creditors if your bills don't arrive on time. A missing bill could mean an identity thief has taken over your account and changed your billing address to cover his tracks. • being denied credit, or being offered less favorable credit terms, like a high interest rate, for no apparent reason. • getting calls or letters from debt collectors or businesses about merchandise or services you didn't buy. Pretexters use a variety of tactics to get your personal information. For example, a pretexter may call, claim he's from a survey firm, and ask you a few questions. When the pretexter has the information he wants, he uses it to call your financial institution. He pretends to be you or someone with authorized access to your account. He might claim that he's forgotten his checkbook and needs information about his account. In this way, the pretexter may be able to obtain personal information about you such as your Social Security number, bank and credit card account numbers, information in your credit report, and the existence and size of your savings and investment portfolios. Keep in mind that some information about you may be a matter of public record, such as whether you own a home, pay your real estate taxes, or have ever filed for bankruptcy. It is not pretexting for another person to collect this kind of information. By law, it's illegal for anyone to: • use false, fictitious or fraudulent statements or documents to get customer information from a financial institution or directly from a customer of a financial institution. • ask another person to get someone else's customer information using false, fictitious or fraudulent statements or using false, fictitious or fraudulent documents or forged, counterfeit, lost, or stolen documents. Victims of identity theft should monitor their credit reports and other financial records for several months after they discover the crime. Victims should review their credit reports once every three months in the first year of the theft, and once a year thereafter. Stay alert for other signs of identity theft. See How can I tell if I'm a victim of identity theft? Don’t delay in correcting your records and contacting all companies that opened fraudulent accounts. The longer the inaccurate information goes uncorrected, the longer it will take to resolve the problem. |
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